Ryan hasn't realized yet that he is next to Santa...

Now he realizes it!!

Hey so we haven't posted in forever. Here is just a quick couple of pics of Ryan and Mario with Santa. Santa came to visit Mario's school on Monday. We already knew Ryan was terrified of Santa but we thought we would give it a try anyway and you can all see from the pics how that went!

Water water everywhere!

So after a great week of vacation it was very difficult to get out of bed this morning and go to work but i knew that i had to. I had not done any lesson plans during my time off and had planned to go to work early and get them done. So out of bed I jumped and got ready for work... I should have turned around and gone home when I almost turned IN the Exit of the parking lot. I seems that they repainted the parking lot and changed the direction of the entrance and exit... i make it in and park and walk up to the school and notice there is alot of mud and dirt on campus but dont think much of it because of the rain we had a few days before. Well as I walk into the office i hear someone say "at least it isnt as bad as Mr. Jacquez's class" I turned around and asked " What?" Come to find out that two wings of our school were flooded over the break! My class was soaked! on the outside of the door was a mud mark 3 inches off the ground. As i walked into the class I almost passed out from the stong smell of mold, glue from the books and an amonia smell. The damage wasnt too bad a few boxes of books and papers were soaked and needed to be thrown away. Mostly it was a pain becasue we spent the day in the libary with another class. 55 kinds crammed into a small libary. My class was great, they made the best of it and were excited to work on amimal reports. We will see what tomorrow has in store for us. Maybe new carpet of just a headache and deadly mold syndrome. who knows?

Disneyland

Below are some pics from our last trip to Disneyland for awhile, our passes expired on Monday so we had one last big hurrah. Ryan had been talking about the characters all week but when it came right down to it he was still terrified of them. 

Disneyland

Catching up

Here are some pictures from last week that I am just now taking the time to put on. Last Tuesday Ryan and I spent the morning at the Live Oak Pumpkin Patch with my sister and my nephew and had a great time. Ryan still talks about "feeling" or in other words petting the goats :)

family pic

This is our little family on Halloween. I made all of the costumes!

Teachers speak out against CTA

I am glad someone has said something about the fact that teachers do not support no on 8. 1.3 million dollars of our money should not have been spent on this cause that they say has nothing to do with schools!

YES ON 8

I came across this video online and think everyone shold watch it! 

have a look
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It's a Girl!

I realized today that we hadn't yet posted on our blog that the verdict from the ultrasound is in and our little "bundle of joy" is a girl :) We are excited, it will be a whole new adventure especially when it comes to dressing a little girl... Katie is not too sure about that one but I'm sure it will grow on her :)

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some fun pictures from our visit to the pumpkin patch. Ryan is obsessed with pumpkins this year and that has really made the season a lot of fun so far!


Drumming on the pumpkin with Dad.

Helping Dad pick up the pumpkin.

We did it!

Walking hand in hand with Dad.

Ryan's "Girlfriend"

So here is Ryan in the car with our little friend Mia (a little girl I have babysat once a week since she was 5 months old). We were on our way to toddler time at the library and I look back and he's holding her hand! They are just too cute! I have more pictures that will hopefully be coming soon!

No meat!!!!

Ok so here is the deal! For some strange reason I decided that i was going to try to go one month with no meat! I am still not sure what came over me but it did. Well I talked someone at work to try it for me and it has turned into a little bet. Whoever does not make it the 30 days has to by the other person a meal with meat! Katie was not too excited about the whole idea. Having to cook different food make meatless lunchess that will get me thr the day it all seemed like too much effort. If you know me well you know that it is all about the challange! So yesterday was the first day and i did fine... we went shopping and have lots of meat replacements. Katies friend Junko gave us a great dish to try! It was great! katie isnt convinced. We will see how the next 28 days go!

a month later

ok ok ok i know we have been really bad about checking our blog and updating it... we have faster internet and a new computer and everything. Well I guess the real big news is that I have started my masters program and it takes alot of my time. Also I am working the after school program till 5:45  three days a week and I have class one day a week till 6 and young mens one day a week till 830 and it all adds up to no time. Ryan still dosent like me leaving for work in the moring. This morning he heald on to my leg and did not want to let go. 

My 4th grade class is great! I have a great group of kids this year. It took a little while to get them in shape and used to the 4th grade but they have all gotten on board with my program. I have a nice group of supportive parents who are willing to help any time. That really helps alot. This year at school extra activities as far as commeties and things like that have taken a back seat to all of the other things. Everyone at work understands. 

Ryan is getting a little less crazy as far as his sleeping habbits go. He wakes up less and dosent freak out as much... that kid is a crack up at night. he tries to talk to you so he  can stay up later. Sometimes we give in because i leave some mornings before he wakes up and am home after he is asleep. 

I am not complaing at all... well maybe a little. This masters program is great. It is alot of work but I am learning so much. I have a co 4th grade  teacher this year and I have been forced to more prepared and organized which has been great. The teacher i worked with last year took a different position at the school so she is still around to help when i have questions about things we did last year.   Maybe Katie will post some  pics soon we will see. 

Remembering 9/11

I'm not sure how many people remember the project a few teachers at my school worked on last year for September 11th.... but it is that time again. Let me explain. Last year we realized that many of our students were so young that most of them had no idea what happened on September 11, 2001. Inspired by the story of the aunt of a teacher at our school who was on flight 11 , the first plane that struck the WTC, we did not want our students to forget the many people who lost their lives and the heroes that emerged from the tragic and horrible events of September 11th. So we invited people to contribute their thoughts, reflections, memories and insights about Setember 11, 2001. We want to place all of these contributions in a collection to use as a resource in teaching about the historic day. There are so many lessons that can be learned from this event. Not only from the event itself but from its aftermath and how it has shaped the world in which we live today.

This is the invitation we used last year inviting people to share last year.

We, like elementary teachers all across this country, are now teaching children who were very small six years ago. They have no memory of the events of that day. We would like to preserve your thoughts and feelings to share with classes for years to come. Please write about what you were doing at the time of the attacks, how it has impacted your life, and your feelings as an American and please forward this to people who you think will contribute. You will be writing for children between 7 and 12 years old. Please join us in compiling these memories so that the children can be taught and as a nation we will never forget. Thank you

We have established an email account where people may email their contributions to. barton911@gmail.com Please send your reflections to us and encourage everyone you know to do the same and encourage everyone they know as well... you get the point.

Our hope is that you will repost this on your blog or copy it and send it to everyone on your email list. We would love to see this grow and grow then receive a flood of contributions. I am kind of reminded of a documentary I saw a few months ago called the paper clip project. A small school in a small town had the idea of collecting a paper clip to represent each person who died during the Holocaust. It was something that once it got rolling had lasting effects on the students involved and the community. I hope that maybe this project might grow into something will forever impact the lives of not only the students who pass through a few teacher classes but maybe an entire community.

Back to School Blues

Well not really blues but it sounded good. Actually I thought that the stress would last longer than it did. The hours leading up to my first online class were a little stressful and then looking at the course outline sent my stress level through the roof. After some calming words from my loving wife and lots of giggles and kisses from Ryan everything seemed okay.
This masters program is going to be alot of work and alot of time but the investment will be well worth it and we are ready to take it on. I figure it will only be harder with more kids. The work does not seem too hard.. mostly it is the time that is going to be required to get it all done.
We will be sure to keep you posted on the progress and any neat projects that I ( we) will have to do.

Back to School

So the summer has ended and school is back in full swing. Lesson plans and papers to grade are all well underway. We have only been back for 2 days and I am already behind. My goal this year is to stay organized and on top of everything. We will see how that goes.
Ryan has started to adjust to me leaving again in the morning and not getting home till the late afternoon. Today was the funniest thing. I was getting dressed and I asked Katie to grab me a tie and Ryan wanted one too... except he wanted the one I was going to wear. After a brief meltdown he was okay with another. He also wanted to put on a shirt so I was all ready to go except for my belt. I grabbed my belt to put it on and guess what Ryan wanted? yeah a belt as well. So he had a shirt a tie and a belt wrapped around his waist and he was ready to head off to work with dad. He was not happy that dad was leaving without him.

Ryan and his little active mind

So Ryan is just saying and doing things that surprise us everyday. While we were in Catalina Ryan slept in his pack and play and everywhere we went we were sure to put a hat on him to keep him out of the sun a bit more. Well today he saw his hat and the pack and play and he put his hat on and grabbed the pack and play to go bye bye. We think he wanted to go back to Catalina.
Then today the little guy peed in the potty twice! he went in and tried peeing like dad standing up but that didn't work out too well then sat down and made it happen. He loved flushing the toilet. This may be the start of something good . We wont push him... but who knows maybe he will keep doing it.

Endless Summer Just Came to an End

Walking on the beach as a family

Ryan liked the fish but didn't want to touch it

Katie and Ryan on the pier

Ryan loved to dig in the sand

Our dirty little boy after a long day of playing

Well the summer has been the best summer ever. Ryan is growing so fast and it was so much fun watching him talk more each day and just be a cute little boy. We had a great end of summer trip. We were able to go on the annual Doyle Catalina trip. It was the greatest trip ever. Ryan loved the water and finally warmed up to the people. We were able to snorkel, climb the rock wall, swim, go fishing and just relax. The Fields family adopted us or maybe we adopted them and we had a great time with them playing games and hanging out. Ryan loved Austin and Chris.

Ryan's week

Here are just a few pictures from Ryan's week so far. We have been taking it pretty easy because Mommy still doesn't feel too great.

Here is Ryan riding his bike and watching TV, he just looked too cute to pass up a picture :)


Tuesday morning Ryan and Mommy went to help Daddy with the bulletin boards in his classroom. Daddy made Ryan a robe with an extra scrap of material, Ryan loved it!


On Monday Ryan got a haircut from Grandpa, Ryan is always a good boy for his haircuts. This time he got to sit all by himself on the booster seat and didn't have to be held by Mommy or Daddy. His new haircut looks so handsome!

Home Sweet Home

So I have returned from my 8 day field study of the underground railroad. It is so nice to be home. The trip was great and i gained so much insight and knowledge. Not to mention the people that I met and the projects that we are going to being developing. This year there was a smaller group of teachers attending the trip. I think it really changed the dynamic of the group. We became a tight knit group and really established some goals for helping each other teach the material we learned about while on the trip. My big project this trip was creating a virtual tour of all the sites we visited using google earth. I hope to log each historic site and then create a link that will be full of images and sound bites and video clips also links to other sites and resources for students and teachers to make the history more accessible to everyone. It is going to be a large amount of work but the end product will be a great resource and will really help people know who I am and put my name out there for future job prospects. This trip and last years trip have really opened doors for me and helped me make some great networking connections. there are a few more projects and ideas that have some from this trip but I will have to hold of on them till i get this one completed.
Another part of the trip that is exciting is the service learning portion. Service learning is something that has been around for a while. Teachers connect classroom content to service projects. For example a teacher teaches about the role quilting played in family history and as a class they create a quilt. The quilt is auctioned off and the students select a charity to donate the money to. There are also other ways students can perform service. The whole point is to teach students the importance of being positive contributers in the communities in which they live and give them ownership of the information they are learning. I am excited to see the projects that come from this trip. Every teacher is requited to use the information they gained on the trip and create a service learning piece.
Ryan and Katie were happy to see me and I was happy to see them. Ryan would not let me out of his sight without grabbing his diaper bag and wanting to get in the car. He was not taking any chances of me leaving again i guess.

Did someone puch me in the face?!

So right now I feel like someone punched me in the face. I had a dentist appointment today and I had to have oral surgery to fix a root canal gone bad. There was a break in the root that caused a reaction that was eating away at the bone in my jaw. The Endodontist had to cut and pull back the gum and find the break then go in and redo the canal and he also grafted bone there to help the bone grow back quicker. It was a 2 hour ordeal. I am not one to complain about dentist trips. The actual work was painless and didn't bother me at all. The bad part is now when the shots are wearing off and I can feel all of the work that was done. I would post a pic of my mouth with the stitches but i don't want to gross anyone out. I am hoping that the pain meds kick in and knock me out for the night. We will see. For now I am sitting here on the computer trying not to talk or move too much.

Ultrasound and Due Date

What's that Katie's pregnant? Yes, yes she is :)
Katie had her first OB appointment today. Our little "bundle of joy" (as the doctor calls the baby) is due March 6th. That makes Katie about 10 weeks along. Much to our surprise the doctor performed an ultrasound right there in the office today so we got to see our "bundle of joy." We got to see the little heart beat and then we were looking at the arms and legs and Katie jokingly said "the babies not doing flips yet" (which is what Ryan did during his entire ultra sound) and just then the baby moved it's little arm up and down as to say "I can't do flips yet but I can do this." Mario was expecting to work today but they didn't need him after all so he got to go to Katie's appointment with her. It worked out great that he could be there to see the baby too. This ultrasound at the first appointment must be a new thing because they certainly didn't do it with Ryan. Seeing the baby brings a whole new reality to pregnancy, all in all it was a joy to see our little bundle of joy today :)

Falling for Canada

I almost got lost in a cornfield This is in Canada. I was told the corn was not for eatting

Look at me on the boat in front of the falls

Jump for joy Im in fornt of the falls

So last night we stayed in Niagara Falls And were able to have dinner right on the falls. It was so nice. At the end of our meal were were able to see the fireworks over the falls! How cool was that? This morning we went down to the Maid of the Mist. There is a bost that takes people to right up to the falls. It was wet and loud.

Some Pics

Spirit of 76 museum

Motown museum in Detroit

From the Freedom Center in Ohio

The Ohio River Jumping for Excitement

Canada here we come

Well we made it into Canada today. We are staying right on the river in a city called Windsor. It is a lot nicer than Detroit. Last night we went to a steak house and I wasn’t too impressed with the food.
O yesterday we went to the Charles W Wright Museum. We are very lucky to have an expert on our trip to help us process the information and to help fill in some of the blanks from the sites and to give is a larger more global perspective of the information we are receiving. As we walked through museum we came to a replica of the underside of a slave ship and we were able to see how small the space was that all of the slaves were put in. We were also given more of an understanding of how the slaves were not seen as people but were seen as a commodity. They were something that was for trading and were dehumanized. I was really taken back as I thought about humans being treated in that way.

Today started off early with a quick breakfast and then we finished up our tour of Maysville and were off for The Freedom Center Underground Railroad Museum. This place is designed to give visitors a clear perspective of the slave trade and the determination these freedom seekers had. I keep writing freedom seeker and not fugitive slave or run away slave because these people were more than slaves, they were people who had families and whos only wish was for freedom. The risks they were willing to take were great because for many of them death was better than a life time of enslavement. As we visit the various sites we are able to feel apart of these people who have passed through these steps and are able to gain perspective into the mindset of the people. 

I am not the only LDS person on this trip and today at the Freedom Center there was a huge sign that pointed people to a family history center that is using family search program that the church uses in the family history centers. It really sparked an interest among the people on the trip with me. It opened up a great conversation about genealogy and the church's focus on our ancestors. The other LDS person on the trip looked at me and said " I can really feel the spirit of Elijah" As I reflected on that statement it helped me to realize that for many of the participants of this study tour we are actually following in the footsteps of their kindred dead. For some reason it made teaching this material to as many students as possible an important task. I know that there are many many spirits that are waiting for their story to be told and that they are inspiring others to seek them out and let them be heard one again. We we met a woman who was born in 1922 whos  life work has been finding her ancestors and sharing their stories. This truly is the Spirit of Elijah at work in the hearts of the people. 

It is late and ill post some photos tomorrow morning.

Ohio Here we go

YEAHHH!!!! So this was the highlight of the trip last year and this year it was just as powerful. We visited the town of Ripley, Ohio on the Ohio River. Ohio was a free state and on the other side of the river was Kentucky a slave state. This town was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. There is a house high up on a hill that was a safe house so freedom seeking slaves had to make it across the River and once they were over it wasn't clear sailing. They needed to avoid slave hunters. The freedom seekers had to run up the steep hill in the dark of night and often with no shoes. They were tired from the long journey and had little energy from lack of food. Making it to the top of the hill and to the house of Rev> John Rainkin was a major step in their quest to freedom.

The Freedom seekers need to hide during the day and travel at night. This is where many hid from the slave hunter.

today was a great day with lots of traveling. Tomorrow will be our longest stretch of driving and we will end in Oberlin Ohio, a small town full of amazing history.

First day of Travel

After an early morning start we made it to Ohio with out any trouble. Many of the other teachers had long delays at different airports. We were lucky to have had a quick and problem free flight. It has been a long night and now we are going to hit the ground running. From here on out we have lots of things planned. I will keep everyone posted and upload lots of photos.